The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

After five or six trips, Qi Jiaojiao was completely exhausted and had to be carried back by her two sisters-in-law. A group of onlookers followed behind.

When Liao Chunhua returned, she was startled by Qi Jiaojiao's appearance. Bao Ya also slowly came out of the room, looking at Qi Jiaojiao with a surprised expression, keeping a distance and refusing to go forward, as she was covered in the smell of the toilet.

"What's wrong with Jiaojiao? Did she eat something bad?"

As Zhang, the woman who lived there, said, her house was close to the toilet, and she saw Qi Jiaojiao running to the toilet repeatedly all afternoon.

"No way, we all had the same thing for lunch."

Bao Ya pretended not to understand and said with an expression that was as sincere as could be.

"Make way, stop crowding around here."

Before the women here could solve the case, more people arrived.

Then Lu Xuefen and a middle-aged man walked in from outside. It seemed that the man was Xu Wanyun's father, Xu Guanyan.

Director Wen acted quickly; the Xu family came to pick them up so soon. Luckily, I acted quickly too, otherwise I would have missed a golden opportunity.

"Jiaojiao, what's wrong with you?"

When Lu Xuefen saw Qi Jiaojiao's pale face, she exclaimed in surprise and quickly came over to check on her.

"This child has diarrhea; he's had it all afternoon. He probably ate something bad."

Aunt Zhang, who was standing next to her, added.

"What did you feed her?"

Without asking any questions, Lu Xuefen immediately lashed out at Bao Ya and her mother-in-law. These two had ruined their family's reputation these past few days.

Bao Ya pulled Liao Chunhua behind her. This old hag, since she has no shame, then she'll tear her skin off.

"She's eating, and she's eating the same thing as us. Who knows what she's eating all by herself?"

Seeing her actions, Xu Guanyan gave her a meaningful look. Just as he was about to stop Lu Xuefen, he heard Lu Xuefen continue:

"What nonsense are you talking about? What do you mean by eating alone? Aren't all the meals at home cooked by you and your mother-in-law?"

"You make it sound like we deliberately poisoned her. Why don't you cook for her from now on, and I guarantee she'll eat well. You put a good-for-nothing who eats and drinks for free in our Jiang family, and you still have the nerve to come and criticize us? Can't your family support itself? You're just a greedy person who never gets enough of taking advantage."

As Bao Ya spoke, she glanced at the couple. Everyone gasped; this was a clear sign that things were about to turn ugly.

"Xiao Lin, don't worry. Your aunt is just too worried about Jiao Jiao, that's why she said such hurtful things. She just wants to know if Jiao Jiao ate something she shouldn't have, which is why she's like this."

Xu Guanyan quickly stepped in to smooth things over; he had been called in for a talk again today and had been scolded by the political commissar so badly that he couldn't even lift his head.

During this period, he lost all face, and his colleagues started looking at him strangely.

He knew that all of this was thanks to the girl in front of him. If they really made a fuss over this, who knew what kind of rumors would spread.

"What we eat, we all eat the same thing, for lunch..."

As Bao Ya spoke, she seemed to suddenly remember something and looked at Qi Jiaojiao with feigned surprise.

"She ate pig's trotters. Those trotters were leftovers from the soup I made for my sister-in-law yesterday. Could they have gone bad?"

"Didn't you eat some too?"

Xu Wanyun suddenly looked at Bao Ya. They had both eaten, so why was only Jiao Jiao the one with diarrhea?

"I didn't eat any; she even put the last two pieces into her own bowl."

Bao Ya shrugged, looking helpless. Xu Wanyun felt her face burning. She had looked down on people from the countryside, but when they were actually put together, her own relatives would only be embarrassed.

"You didn't eat, and neither did your mother-in-law?"

Someone in the crowd spoke up, and Lu Xuefen, who had been somewhat discouraged, perked up again, glaring at Bao Ya to see how she would argue.

"My mother-in-law brought food to my older brother today, and he ate at the hospital. The baby woke up while we were eating, so my sister-in-law and I took turns eating."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Qi Jiaojiao with even more disdain. Her cousin was in postpartum confinement, and she didn't help at all, instead stealing food and drinks from her.

I thought that was the end of it, but then an old lady next to me, for some reason, squinted and pouted and said:

"You're so kind? Others ate all the meat, and you didn't even complain."

"My husband works at a meat processing plant, slaughtering pigs. We have plenty of meat at home; we're tired of eating pig's trotters."

As Bao Ya spoke, she gave the old lady a deep look. Well, old lady, you've successfully caught my attention.

Uh……

Everyone was speechless. These days, you might not have money to spend even if you work at a bank, but if you work at a meat processing plant, especially if you're slaughtering pigs, you'll definitely have plenty of meat to eat.

Even the pig butchers in the village don't lack meat, let alone the meat processing plant, which slaughters pigs in batches, so of course they won't lack meat either.

The Xu family also knew that Jiang Yuan worked at the meat processing plant, especially Xu Wanyun, who had no doubt about what she said.

Bao Ya has been cooking for her these days, with meat every day. She puts the cooked food in front of her with a calm expression, as if she's used to it.

Qi Jiaojiao, on the other hand, has eyes that light up and drools at the sight of meat; it's embarrassing to even think about.

Xu Guanyan narrowed his eyes, looking at Bao Ya's performance and then at Qi Jiaojiao sitting to the side, panting. He roughly made up his mind.

If someone ate something bad, they should vomit and have diarrhea. But Qi Jiaojiao only has diarrhea and doesn't vomit at all. He thinks Bao Ya must have drugged her. She's talking so logically and can answer any questions fluently. She must have planned this all along.

Just as Xu Guanyan was about to say something, he heard a "du—" fart with a curve, followed by a "plop" sound, as if someone had pooped.

The room suddenly fell into a deathly silence, and everyone looked at Qi Jiaojiao with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

Qi Jiaojiao opened her eyes wide, raised her head, looked at the people in front of her, and felt like she wanted to die. Then she burst into tears.

"Why are you crying? Go to the toilet and do it inside. You can clean it up yourself later."

Bao Ya suddenly yelled at her, and then, at the very last moment, she took a dump in the room. She never expected her to be so disgusting, and she didn't want to clean up after her.

"Hurry up, it's disgusting."

Bao Ya was really anxious now, and the people at the door quickly made way for her.

Realizing what had happened, Qi Jiaojiao covered her face and ran frantically towards the toilet.

Lu Xuefen was about to follow when Bao Ya quickly blocked her way.

"Auntie, wipe that chair clean before you leave. My mother can clean up after the Jiang family's grandson, but we can't take care of your niece."

Bao Ya pointed to the chair where Qi Jiaojiao had sat, with a damp, colorless stain on it.

"you……"

Lu Xuefen was so angry that she trembled and pointed at Bao Ya, unable to speak.

"What do you mean, 'you'? Clean it up properly, or I'll go ask the military leaders tomorrow what you mean by sending your poor relatives who freeload off me to my house and making my mother serve them."

Bao Ya wouldn't budge an inch and insisted that she wipe the poop off the chair.